The Nightmare
by idris02
Summary: Set in the burrow after they returned from the battle of Hogwarts. Was in a Harry Potter mood after rereading the books again, hope you like it :)
1. Chapter 1

It was happening again. Night after night, she was there. She couldn't stop it. She traveled there in her dreams. But it never felt like a dream. Each time she felt the pain running through her veins, the scream fresh on her lips. It was more than a memory. It felt like reality.

"Hermione!" Ginny had her arms on her shoulders now, shaking her, trying to wake her up. Trying to pull Hermione out of her dream, her reality, her nightmare. "Hermione!" Ginny said again, desperate not to wake the whole house up.

Hermione's brown eyes flashed open. "Ginny?" she mumbled. She was drenched in sweat, terrified. Now she was awake she knew she had been dreaming, but her arm still ached like a fresh wound. After all these years, she finally knew how Harry had felt.

"Did you have it again?" Ginny's face was white with concern, her eyes widening as Hermione slowly nodded. "Hermione." She said softly, pulling her up into a hug. Hermione's limp arms stayed beside her, she was too exhausted to do anything. Letting go Ginny watched Hermione for a second, thinking, she bit down on her lip and looked around the room.

Hermione lay back down on the bed, needing to sleep but fearing where it would bring her, the Malfoy Manor. Cringing at the thought of returning there, she closed her eyes and placed her head back on the pillow.

"No. Come with me." Ginny wrapped her arm around Hermione's and pulled her up.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked as Ginny opened the bedroom door in front of them and headed out into the corridor. Ginny remained silent as she slowly guided Hermione across the wooden floor and up the staircase, people were snoring behind closed doors, but the rest of the house was quiet.

"Oh." Hermione breathed. She had taken this route hundreds of times, she knew exactly where they were going.

Ginny still said nothing. Silently walking side by side with Hermione, her arm steading her, the nightmare always stole so much energy. They continued walking for a few more seconds, until Ginny stopped outside his bedroom door. Wrapping her hand around the handle, she twisted it and pushed open the door. Even in the darkness Hermione could still make out the orange posters covering the walls and as she scanned the room she noticed that only one bed in there was occupied, the other left empty, still made.

Letting go of Ginny, Hermione staggered forward a few steps, looking back behind her as Ginny smiled and shut the door. Folding her arms across her chest, she breathed slowly, considering what she should say.

"Ron?" She whispered taking another step towards the bed. The figure stirred, but did not wake. He shuffled slightly in the bed but his snoring continued.

"Ron?" She repeated, a little louder this time.

"I'll be down in a minute." He murmured into his pillow, turning away from the door.

Taking another step closer, she repeated herself once more, "Ron!"

This time his eyes opened, at first just a slit but then fully. Sitting up quickly he managed to hit his head against the wall behind him. "Shit" he muttered rubbing his head. He looked across at her, then down at himself for a minute, quickly pulling the blankets up to his neck.

She laughed, which seemed impossible just minutes ago. A tired smile flickered across her face for a second, before disappearing again.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked as brought his hand down from his head, his face almost as white as hers now, he had seen that look before, and didn't like what usually followed it.

"I, uh, I had it again." Hermione looked down at the floor as she spoke, feeling foolish. She hated that she couldn't control it, it came every night, slipping into her dreams, spreading fear all of her body, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"Uh, Ginny brought me here." She added, not knowing what else to say. He frowned slightly, as he thought, trying to figure out what Ginny had intended for him to do.

Dropping the blankets to reveal his bare chest again, he pulled the corner of the blankets away, and whispered, "Get in."

Hermione nodded and took a slow step forward. She lay down beside him underneath the blankets, pulling them up to cover her as she faced the dark bedroom, her back to him. Ron wrapped his arm around her, pulling her towards him and Hermione shuffled backwards. When she comfortable she shivered again but not because of the cold.

"Whats wrong?" Ron whispered in her ear.

"I don't want to go back." Hermione's heart was beating fast, her breath was rapid, she didn't want to go there, or to wake up drenched in sweat with her sheets twisted around her after she thrashed around in her sleep.

"You won't" He pulled her tightly into him, kissing her on the cheek.

"I will. Every single night I go there." Hermione was still shaking, Ron lessened her fear but didn't eradicate it.

"But it's different now." Ron whispered. He knew what Ginny had intended. Ginny had told him each morning what happened the night before, about how scared Hermione was when she woke, about the muttering in her sleep. Hermione told Harry and Ron parts of it, but only in passing, never emphasizing on the fear he knew she felt.

"How?" Hermione was doubtful that anything would change. Why had Ginny brought her up here, did she no longer want to wake two or three times a night to rescue Hermione from Bellatrix. Or was there another reason, had she figured something out that had never occurred to Hermione?

"You have me." Ron said in a matter of fact tone. Hermione brought her hand up and wrapped it around his, holding on for dear life. He squeezed her and she felt a rush through her body, she knew she was safe. Even if she did have the nightmare again he would be here when she woke up.

"If I do though you need to.." She started, still slightly concerned.

"I know." He cut her off.

"Ok." She murmured as she was already drifting off to sleep. She felt safe. Safer than she had felt in the past week, the nightmares only came after You Know Who was dead, she figured that they were too busy before, always rushing, planning, panicking, with little sleep so the nightmares stayed at bay. But as soon as she was safe, happy; they came back, plaguing her dreams. But in Ron's arms she didn't feel scared, she didn't feel the usual dread that washed over her as she lay still in bed, her eyes shut, her head resting on the pillow. His familiar scent wrapped around her, almost ensuring her safety, and she knew that she wouldn't return to Malfoy Manor that night.

"I'm not going anywhere." Ron breathed as he too drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2 - Wake Up

Hermione's eyelids fluttered open. The sun was streaming through the window making her perfectly warm. She wasn't drenched in sweat, the sheets weren't wrapped around her, she wasn't shaken awake, ripped from her nightmare. She woke up by herself, of her own accord. Ron and Ginny were right. Smiling she rolled over to face Ron. His eyes were closed, but he was silent, no snores cascading from his mouth, he was awake.

"Ron." She whispered a smile still plastered across her face.

His eyes met hers, he matched her smile and replied, "Sweet dreams?"

"Something like that." She said happily, it was the first time that she had slept, properly slept in days.

"Should have done this a week ago." Ron said, leaning forward and kissing her lightly on the lips.

"Maybe then you would have had a shirt on." Hermione chuckled, placing her palm up against his chest. Ron opened his mouth, a sentence already on his tongue when the door burst open.

"She's awake!" Ginny said, breathlessly. Bending over she placed her hand on her hip, panting. She hadn't passed her test yet so she still had to run up to Ron's room.

"Shit." Ron muttered. Hermione jumped out of bed and turned to face Ginny.

"Are you sure?"

"No, I thought I would go for a leisurely sprint up to Ron's room to see how you two were getting along. Yes she's awake! I heard her stirring, she will be in our room any minute now, we have to go!" Ginny turned, shut the door behind her and ran as quietly as she could manage, back to her room.

"I have to go." Hermione had turned back to Ron his sheets were already pulled up to his neck in preparation. Ron smiled back.

"See you in a few minutes then."

Hermione leant forward, kissed him quickly, pulled back and smiled. "So glad I don't have to run." She said as she closed her eyes deep in thought.

Crack!

Ron watched her disappear, then shut his eyes and feigned sleep.

Crack!

Ron opened his eyes again. "Harry!"

"Morning." Harry replied with a sad look, he was happy but not entirely.

"Tell me everything later, Mum's on her way up, Hermione just left." Ron said, his eyes flicking towards the door.

A real smile appeared on Harry's face, "Hermione just left?" He repeated, whilst kicking of his shoes and pulling off his jacket, dumping out the floor.

"Shut up, I'll tell you…" Ron stopped as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Harry pulled back to covers and jumped it to bed. The bed still didn't look like it had been slept in. Ron raised his wand from his bedside table and flicked it slightly, causing the blankets to move as though they had been kicked by Harry in his sleep. He had finally mastered non-verbal spells.

Harry nodded at him and they both shut their eyes, feigning sleep, just as the door opened.

"Breakfast time!" Molly's voice rang out around the room, loud enough to wake them if they were indeed sleeping. Harry and Ron both groaned and muttered, "Thanks." And "Be down soon." Leaving the door open behind her Molly rushed off down the staircase, to wake the others. When her footsteps could no longer be heard, the boys pushed the covers off and sat up facing each other.

"Did you get any sleep?" Ron asked first.

"Yeah, Andromeda woke me up a few minutes ago." He said with a sigh. He had been spending a lot of time with Teddy, they all had, but last night he felt the need to visit.

"Hermione and I thought we would visit after lunch." Ron said, Teddy was part of the family now, they saw him almost every day, giving his Grandmother some time off while Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Harry looked after him.

"Speaking of which, Hermione just left. Care to explain." Harry asked, with a smirk.

"It's the nightmares."

"She's still having them?" The smirk disappeared, his face full of concern now.

"Not anymore." Ron smiled. "It was Ginny's idea really, she sent her here after she woke up again, scared as usual. It worked though, she didn't thrash around, or mutter, or have that petrified look on her face when she woke up."

"You must have the magic touch." Harry laughed as he stood up and grabbed his wand. "Accio shirt." He said and one sailed out of the closet towards him. "Cover yourself up." Harry chucked the shirt at Ron, who pulled it over his head as he stood up.

"One last thing before we go downstairs, why does your Mum keep coming up to us, rather than yelling from the bottom of the stairs like normal." Harry asked as he changed into his pyjama pants.

"I thought you knew." Ron said smiling, "Cause Hermione and I date, and you and Ginny date, so she checks to ensure that we are in our own beds. Us here in our room and them down in theirs.

"Doesn't work though does it." Harry said checking his reflection in the mirror.

"Not in the slightest." Ron replied. "You look great." He added with a laugh.

Crack!

Harry turned away from the mirror, Ron had disappeared, the perfect quip frozen on his lips. Looking at the mirror once more, he flashed himself a smile.

Crack!

**Hope you enjoyed, please review I love knowing what you guys think of my writing (:  
Check out my two other Romione fics, The Aftermath which picks up after the battle of Hogwarts and The Surprises a collection of one shots scattered throughout their life.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Helpful

"Morning boys." Molly said, rushing past them as she made her way up the stairs. They had only been back a few days, travelling back and forth collecting their stuff from Aunt Muriel's, the kitchen and living room were overflowing with boxes, Molly was desperate to put everything back in its place. To make home, home again. It not only gave her a purpose but it kept her distracted.

"We should help after we've eaten." Ron said, watching his mother disappear around the bend.

"Yeah." Harry replied, and sniffed the air. "Smells good, I wonder who's cooking since your mums not." Ron shrugged and they headed towards the chattering in the kitchen.

"Morning Master." Kreacher said as they walked into the kitchen. Harry and Ron looked at each other for a second, in shock, they hadn't expected to see Kreacher until tomorrow.

"Good morning Kreacher." Harry said with a smile, sitting down at the table next to Ginny. "Morning." He said to her as he leant over and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"If I had known there would this amount of affection during breakfast, I would have stayed in bed." George's voice rang out as he leant against the doorway.

Harry and Ginny separated, blushing slightly as they looked at George, he smirked and nodded towards Ron and Hermione. In the corner Hermione had her arms wrapped around Ron's neck, his arms wrapped around her waist, pulled together, in a long kiss. Both completely oblivious that they were being watched by everyone in the room except for Kreacher, who was busily putting everything on plates.

"Neville and Luna will be on their way in a few minutes." Molly's voice carried down the stairs, her footsteps getting louder as she approached.

Molly's voice worked like an electric shock, Hermione and Ron separated in an instant and turned to face Ginny, Harry and George. Seeing that the eyes were on them, the both blushed as they stepped towards the table. Ron pulled out the chair beside him and Hermione smiled even brighter as she sat down. Ron pushed the chair in slightly and sat down next to her.

Ginny and Harry shared a knowing look. "So that's what I interrupted this morning." Ginny said, trying not to laugh.

George raised his eyebrow, but said nothing as he sat down next to Ron and Molly walked into the kitchen just as Kreacher started placing plates of food in front of them all. Silence fell in the kitchen as Molly sat down beside Ginny. George was smirking and the rest of them were looking down at their plates.

"So Neville and Luna will be here soon." Ron said slowly, breaking the silence and looking up at his mother.

"Yes. They just sent a letter." Molly said scanning their faces, with a look of curiosity. Kreacher stood beside her, his hands empty, the table full of food.

"Smells delicious, thank you Kreacher." Ron said with a smile. The others joined in nodding and smiling.

"I'll do some boxes while you eat." Kreacher said, looking happy and turning out of the room. He was in the same helpful mood that he was before Hermione, Ron and Harry went to the Ministry, more than ready to help, even the 'blood-traitors' as he once called them.

As he left the room, they turned their attention to the food and began filling their plates, the plates in the middle of the table were quickly emptying. The only person who sat there still, not touching the food was Hermione whose attention was solely on Ron, her eyes wide.

"What, I'm hungry!" Ron said defensively, looking down at the mound of food on top of his plate. Hermione smiled, Ron didn't know why she was staring at him like that, but it was a look of mild surprise, but almost in awe that after everything had changed so drastically there were still some similarities. Tearing her eyes away from him, she started filling her plate and they all ate in silence.

"Did Dad make it home last night?" George asked.

"For a few hours, but he had to leave early again. He wants you to visit him after breakfast. Percy, Bill and Charlie are all there already." Molly replied, glancing up at the clock, an old habit of hers. Looking at the rest of them she said, "We're having a big dinner tonight, so I need you to help around the house." They all nodded.

"We were thinking of going to see Teddy after lunch, for an hour or so. But the rest of the day your wish is our command." Ron said sincerely. Harry and Hermione all looked at over at him again, they still weren't used to his new side yet.

"What do you want us to do?" Ginny asked, eagerly. There was a different atmosphere in the Weasley house these days. There was much less bickering, everyone had changed, the solemn silence still crept in at times, but everyone had spent their days crammed full, too scared to stop.

"Well Ginny and Hermione can.." she faltered for a moment, she would normally separate them but decided against it, "You four can start by de-gnoming the backyard. It got out of hand while we were away." She stood up and pushed her chair in, running her hand through her hair, and glancing at the clock again as she headed out into the living room.

"Well I best be off, enjoy de-gnoming." George said as he rose from his seat and looked at them all, he glanced over at the clock and a look of sadness washed over his face.

Crack!

"We should go outside, Luna and Neville should be here soon." Hermione said standing up. The rest of them rose with her, Ron wrapping his around her shoulder, and kissed her head as they headed towards the door. Harry did the same to Ginny and followed Ron outside.

Crack! Crack!

Just as the door shut behind them, Luna and Neville appeared in front of them smiling.

"Hello Harry! Morning Ginny!" Luna said, stepping forward and pulling them both into a hug.

"Hermione, Ron!" Neville said, hugging them both as well.

"Care to join us de-gnoming?" Ginny asked as they finished hugging Luna and then Neville.

"Sure, we have a lot to tell you." Neville said as he followed them into the yard.

"As do they." Luna said in her sing song voice, looking around as she walked, "Lovely garden." She smiled at Ginny and Ron.

**Please review and check out my other fics :)**


	4. Chapter 4 - Teddy

A few hours later, after they had eaten a quick but delicious lunch, Luna, Neville, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Harry waved goodbye to Molly. Then they all disapparated to visit Teddy and Andromeda. Together they walked into the house, still in conversation, sat down in the lounge and waiting for Andromeda.

They spent the next half an hour, passing Teddy around, pulling faces at him, cradling in his arms and discussing his cuteness, how big he had gotten and in low whispers so Andromeda couldn't hear, how much he reminded them of Tonks.

"I hope he likes my present." Luna said as she sat on the edge of the wooden table staring at Teddy, with a smile etched into her face, matching everyone's in the room.

"I'm sure he will." Andromeda replied. As Luna turned to look out the window Andromeda looked quizzically at Luna's present, glanced over at Hermione who shrugged in reply, nobody knew what it was. "I will be gone for about an hour, if you need anything…"

"We will be fine." Ginny replied, not tearing her eyes away from Teddy. Andromeda nodded to herself and looked around the room once again, checking that she didn't forget anything. Smiling to them all she walked out the door and off into the garden.

"How is she handling all of this?" Hermione asked Harry. They all looked over at him, concern clearly displayed on their faces.

"Not sure. There is almost always someone here, the Order makes sure of that. Molly visits at night, she had just left when I came here last night. She has a lot of people concerned about her and Teddy and I think what scares her most is when she has to tell him what happened." Harry said, his eyes darting around the room as he spoke.

Silence filled the room. The only sound was of Teddy gurgling happily to himself. The clock chimed loudly as it hit 12, the day had flown by.

"I must go." Luna said, leaning forward and kissing Teddy on the forehead before standing up and heading out into the garden.

"Gran will want me home now as well. Good to see you guys, see you at dinner." Neville stood up, smiled at them all and waved goodbye, following Luna out, shutting the door behind him.

"We should probably do a quick clean-up for her, she must be exhausted." Ron said looking over at Harry. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Hermione's smile broaden.

"Good idea." Harry stood up and headed over to the kitchen, he had seen the mess on the bench when they walked in.

Looking down at Teddy, Ron smiled and stood up, Teddy still in his arms. "I can't believe we were ever this small." He said his eyes still on the baby. "Or this cute."

"You weren't." Ginny replied, holding her arms out, ready to take Teddy.

"Hmm maybe not. But you were." Ron replied, "With your big blue eyes." He leant down and placed Teddy in Ginny's outstretched arms. Tearing his eyes away from him, he followed Harry into the kitchen.

"He's different now." Hermione said, her eyes on the door that shut behind Ron.

"We all are." Ginny said, sticking her tongue out at Teddy.

"Yeah." Hermione said, everything was different now, some for the better, some for the worse.

"Luna told me that people don't change, that just reveal what was deep inside. Whether good or bad." Ginny sat Teddy down her knees, facing her, and starting bouncing him up and down, he squealed with delight.

"That sounds like one of the most accurate things she has ever said." Hermione replied, watching Teddy smiling and laughing. Looking more concerned now she looked over at Ginny, "How are you doing?"

"Better. Mum keeps busy, she can't stop. She is always doing something, the only time she stops is for a few hours at night, and…" Ginny faltered, she stopped bouncy Teddy. "We all miss him. No one more than George. Everyone else is at work, there is a lot to be done, but I think they enjoy that, they enjoy not stopping. It's good to have Percy back, especially since he has lost most of his more annoying personality points. How is Ron?"

Hermione looked over at the door, they could hear Ron and Harry chatting merrily to each other, pots and pans and plates clanged together, the sound of water running, their wands left forgotten on the table in front of Ginny and Hermione.

Lowering her voice she said, "I'm not sure. Most of the time he's fine, different but fine. But sometimes he just stops, he doesn't think I notice though. He just stands there, looking into the distance. He opens his mouth to say something sometimes and just shuts it, realising that he's no longer here."

"At least he has you." Ginny said after a long silence.

"Who would have guessed it; Ron and I, Harry and you." Hermione said, stretching her arms out towards to Teddy.

"I always knew Ron and you." Ginny replied as she handed Teddy to Hermione.

"Since when?" Hermione sat Teddy on her lap, and covered her eyes, "Where's Teddy?" she said in a baby voice. Ginny chuckled as Hermione said, "There he is!"

"Ever since he came home after his first year at Hogwarts. Why do you think Mum got some mad in fifth year when Rita Skeeter wrote about you and Harry's relationship? Everyone knew that he liked you, everyone except from him and apparently you." Ginny said, raising her wand, sending Teddy's toys to fly back into his toy box and onto the shelf.

Hermione sat still, stunned. Ginny flicked her wand again at the washing folded itself and flew into the open cupboard, slotting in place. Hermione bounced Teddy on her knees as she sat there thinking. After a few minutes, Ginny had cleaned the room and was leaning against the couch watching Hermione.

"Ok." Hermione said at last, her eyes sill fixated on Teddy. She handed Teddy over to Ginny and stood up slowly. A smile flickered across her face once again, "I knew it." She muttered to herself. "Why didn't you tell me?" She turned to Ginny.

"It was obvious you liked him!" Ginny laughed as she spoke, how could someone so smart, be so oblivious.

"Not to me!" Hermione said, still looking shocked.

"Well you both worked it out in the end." Ginny said, smiling up at Hermione. Ginny opened her mouth to say something when the kitchen door swung open and Ron and Harry walked out chatting to each other.

"McGonagall's in charge now, she wants us to visit her the day after tomorrow." Harry whispered a flicker of nervousness crossed his face.

"Well neither of us are going back. I don't imagine she will love that." Ron whispered back, making sure that neither Hermione or Ginny could hear them. Bringing their attention to them he said in a loud voice, "Looks good in there, any suggestions what we do now?"

"The garden looks like it needs work." Ginny suggested, smiling at them as they entered the room.

"Good idea, give us a shout when she gets back." Harry said, walking past Ginny and grabbed their wands off the table.

"I'll help!" Hermione said, as Harry handed Ron his wand.

"Ok." Harry said, exchanging a look with Ron, they hadn't finished talking. He followed Ron towards the door.

Hermione gave Ginny a desperate look. "Harry, why don't you help me with Teddy." Ginny said, as Harry was about to walk out the door behind Ron.

"I don't really think… oh, sure." Harry was confused at first, but as Ginny gave him the look he nodded and smiled.

Hermione smiled back and rushed out the door behind Ron.

Crack!

**As usual, please review I love hearing what you think (:  
Also check out my other fics, I have two other Romione ones.  
In regards to the review about writing about more nightmares that is coming in chapter eight onwards :)  
You just have to wait and see.**


	5. Chapter 5 - Quidditch

Checking behind her before she walked out the door she saw Fleur appear in the living room, with a huge smile on her face and looking beautiful as usual. She closed the door behind her and headed towards the trees to find Ron.

"Where's Harry?" Ron said turning to face her.

"Helping Ginny. Fleur just arrived." Hermione replied, as Ron waved his wand and the weeds were uprooted and flung into a hole five metres to their left.

"How does she look?" Ron said, flicking his wand again and trimming the grass.

"What?" Hermione felt her face redden and her smile vanished from her face. Ron stopped what he was doing and turned to face her, lowering his wand and stuffing it in his pocket. He immediately knew that she had not understood what he said at all.

"That's not what I meant. And you know it." Ron said, taking a step towards Hermione, "I meant is she still crying? When she came a few days ago, you and Ginny were out in the garden. She looked terrible."

"Oh. No, she looked happy." Hermione said, as she wrapped her arms around his neck once more.

"Good. Bill worries when he's at work. Andromeda said she spends a lot of time here, with her sister, both cooing over Teddy. I think it helps." Ron said, giving a far off distant look, a look that never failed to make Hermione worry.

"I love you." She whispered, watching Ron. Smiling, his eyes focused on Hermione, the far off look vanished as suddenly as it came.

"I love you too." He said, wrapping his arms around her waist. He hesitated for only a second before closing his eyes and kissing her. After all these years, they felt like they had something to catch up on. He pulled her towards him as she ran her tongue across his lips, pushing them apart.

Crack!

"Do you just wait for me?" A voice rang out behind them.

Grudgingly they tore their lips apart. Ron looked over Hermione's shoulder and smiled.

"Basically, yeah." Ron said to George, before turning his attention back to Hermione, resuming their passionate kiss.

"I don't want to ruin this saliva exchange but Dad's on his way. It's up to you though." George said, flicking his wand and filling the whole with dirt. As he did, Ron and Hermione separated and walked towards him holding hands.

Crack!

Arthur appeared in front of them, in a brand new pair of robes, with a large smile on his face. "Oh hello. Molly said you would be here."

Crack!

Bill appeared beside the door, turned to face them, smiled and asked, "Fleur?"

"Inside with Teddy." Ron answered. "Anyone else joining us?"

Crack!

Andromeda appeared by the willow in the corner of the garden, she was busily stuffing something into her purse. Which looked rather like a soft toy blue elephant. "Oh hello." She looked up with a smile.

"Just popping by to collect the children and check you were still coming to dinner." Arthur said cheerfully as Bill, George, Hermione and Ron headed into the living room.

"Harry, Ginny we're leaving now apparently." Hermione said, watching Fleur cradle Teddy in her arms, singing him to sleep.

Ginny turned to the door and jumped off Harry's lap as she noticed Bill and Charlie walking in.

"What is with you all today?" George laughed as Ginny jumped up, blushing profusely.

Harry looked down at the ground, his cheeks as red as Ginny's hair, but a smile clear on his face. He finally had what he wanted, he had spent months obsessing over Ginny, he had wanted to make sure she was safe, to have her know that he was thinking about her but there was no way to do that while they were away. He knew that she would go back to school in September, but that was months away now, a speck on the distant horizon.

"See you soon." Ginny waved to Andromeda as Harry slung his arm over her shoulder and they exited into the yard.

"Bye Teddy." Ron whispered, kissing him on the forehead and linking his fingers with Hermione. Hermione smiled at Fleur as she looked up and walked beside Ron, following Ginny and Harry into the yard.

"What's happening tonight?" Ginny asked as Ron and Hermione came within earshot.

"Just dinner I think, nothing special." Ron answered. Darting his eyes to the window he saw Arthur chatting to Andromeda and Bill cradling Teddy. Turning back to Hermione, he wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her.

Her hands rested on either side of his face, her mouth opening slightly, letting her tongue to slide out. As their kiss deepened, her hands left his face and wrapped around his neck, letting Ron lift her up in their enthusiasm.

"Oi!" Ginny exclaimed as she saw her Dad hug Andromeda through the window, knowing that he would be turning and leaving in a manner of seconds.

Letting go of each other they stood apart, their fingers intertwined as they smiled up at each other. They had been waiting for this for years. Granted the situation in which it finally presented itself wasn't ideal, but they had not had the easiest experience at Hogwarts. In their first year, Hermione, Ron and Harry had battled a troll, a giant chess-seat, a three headed dog. Harry had stopped You-Know-Who from getting the stone and in Ginny's first year she had been possessed by a horcrux. They were used to complicated by now. This peace was a change for them all.

Harry quickly kissed Ginny before Arthur turned and the four of them stood in pairs, waiting in a happy silence while Bill and Fleur placed a sleeping Teddy into his crib and exited with Arthur waving quiet goodbyes.

"We ready then?" George said, giving them a brief smile causing all four of them to blush profusely, he knew exactly what they had been doing. He was glad that they were happy, they were all his siblings, they had been for years, and in soon enough they would all be legally related and that didn't surprise him the slightest. He had seen it coming for years, as had everyone but them.

"Off we go." Arthur said, glancing from face to face.

Hermione and Ron tightened their grip, as did Harry and Ginny. Bill and Fleur grasped each other's hands, smiled at the others and waved goodbye with their free hands. They all shut their eyes in concentration, focussing on their destination.

Crack!

"Hello dears." Molly yelled out of the kitchen window as they all appeared on the grass a few metres away from her.

The garden looked a lot better than it had done when they left. They had finished de-gnoming the garden before departing. But someone had clipped most of the hedges, uprooted all the weeds, mowed the lawns and watered the plants, the flowers were already flourishing. What would usually have taken all of them to do in a few days, could take a matter of minutes at a few flicks on the wand, thinking incantations.

"Did you have fun?" Molly asked as they entered the kitchen. Kissing Arthur, she turned to the rest of them, hugging them quickly before they slouched down in the kitchen chairs.

Together they murmured yeahs and sures, as they scanned the kitchen, marvelling at how clean it was. Evidently, Kreacher's attitude in the Burrow was much the same as his attitude in Grimmauld Place shortly before they all left. The floor was scrubbed within an inch of its life, the benches sparkled and not a hint of dust was seen on any surface. All of the clothes from the last few days, or any clothes left in the house had been cleaned, dried, folded, and was now placed on the kitchen table in large stacks.

"You did promise to help." Molly said, causing them all to groan inwardly and rise from their seats. "But.." she continued, making them exchange eager looks. "Kreacher has done almost everything. So, I guess, you can do what you want."

Ron glanced at Hermione a small smile forming on his lips. Anything they wanted? This day was just getting better and better.

"You could play Quidditch!" Molly exclaimed hurriedly catching the looks Harry and Ron gave Ginny and Hermione, knowing full well what they intended.

"Yes!" Harry, Ron and Ginny all exclaimed, smiling widely at each other. None of them had played it in months. Snape had banned Quidditch at school, and the energy at home was too sullen for Ginny to play it during the holidays. Harry and Ron hadn't been in the ideal situation to play a game while they were hunting horcruxes.

"Have fun, wake me when the others arrive." George muttered rising from the table and heading towards the stairs.

"It's the afternoon!" Ginny exclaimed, watching her brother closely as he turned to face her for a second.

"Inside I'm an old woman, I need my nana nap." George said, smiled at them all before heading up the stairs. They sat in silence, the three of them grinning at each other, they were going to play Quidditch.

Only Hermione looked less than pleased. It wasn't that she disliked the game, she loved watching it and cheering them on, but she was terrible at it, she knew that. And she knew that whoever was stuck with her was bound to lose, they didn't say it but she knew they damned their luck when they had her on their team. It was like Muggle school all over again, she was always picked last. Having no friends and no talent helped that along, but still she resented it.

"How do we want to play this?" Ginny said as they made their way to the shed to get their cobwebbed broomsticks.

"Can you grab mine, I'll set up!" Ron yelled walking to the stretch of grass they used as their pitch.

Hermione looked from Ginny and Harry who were no debating, girls on guys or Weasleys' on visitors or couple on couple, then to Ron sauntering off in the opposite direction.

"Mine too!" Hermione yelled to Ginny, running off towards Ron, linking her fingers with his as she walked alongside him.

"Still don't like spiders huh?" Hermione said, pulling Ron close to her.

"Well considering it was my boggart, nope, not a big fan." Ron replied, kissing Hermione when he finished talking, glad that she was always around, he knew she had to go to Australia to get her parents soon, but he didn't want her to leave, not yet.

"Yeah…" Hermione's thoughts wandered off, to their third year at Hogwarts.

She hadn't finished the test that Lupin had set out for them, it was the boggart that finished her off. Coming out she told them that Professor McGonagall had told her that she had failed everything, and nobody questioned her. They either didn't care, or just assumed that was the truth. It was far from that.

Hermione sat on the grass by the side as the others set up of the field, she had no idea what went there, she had seen the game enough but didn't take much interest in the particulars. If she went to help, she would simply hinder them.

Staring at the trees, her mind wandered off again, the sound of Ron's voice pulling her back out of her thoughts.

"Why don't we play a few games, shuffle the teams each time. I want to go with Hermione first though." Ron said, bending over the box, and opening the lid.

"Really?" Hermione stood up off the ground, her voice soft and surprised, making him turn around to look at her.

"Yeah of course." Ron said, smiling at her as Ginny and Harry exchanging looks behind Hermione.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed running towards him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she snaked her legs around his waist and he held her tight to him, his arms wrapped around her waist. Hermione kissed Ron passionately, sliding her tongue into his mouth and deepening their kiss, her hands grabbing fist fills of Ron's red hair as she urged for more.

"GUYS!" Ginny yelled from behind them, forcing them to slowly, reluctantly part, Ron kissed Hermione once more before she unwrapped her legs from around him and he placed her back on the ground, his arms still wrapped around her waist and hers around his neck.

Nobody had ever picked her first before, perhaps she was picked because she dated Ron now, but that only made her feel better. She was picked first to be on a team by her boyfriend. If only her old muggle school acquaintances could see her now, or even Ron. His muscles having developed over the last few years, his broad shoulders well known by Hermione's hands now, after running her hands over them almost every time they kissed.

"You need to be even further apart if we're going to play." Harry said, laughing with Ginny as Hermione defiantly kissed Ron again, pulling him up against her once more before letting go of him completely moments later.

"Catching up on lost time?" Ginny asked, chuckling as she passed Ron his broomstick and Harry handed Hermione hers.

"We have years to catch up on. So maybe we should play first." Ron said, mounting his broomstick.

"Alright, let's go." Harry said, throwing the Quaffle up into the air as they all kicked off, flying into the air.

**Hope that you like this chapter!  
I am currently studying for my exams, so reviews would really improve my current mood.  
So please review, it will encourage me to write more and also not die from all this study!  
Check out my other Romione fics as well :)  
Also next chapter will come in a few weeks, when my exams are over.**


	6. Chapter 6 - An Idea

The wind whistling through their hair, the sun shining on their faces, it was no surprise that the day rushed by faster than any of them could have imagined. None of them stopped for anything, they had kept playing for hours, forgetting how time worked, just playing on and on until the sun began to climb down from the sky and rustling noises approached them.

"Evening!" Neville yelled from below them. Luna was walking beside him, holding his hand and grinning up at them.

Hermione scored, yet again and they all sped down to the ground, landing a few steps in front of Luna and Neville, smiling widely as they did so. It was great to be up in the air again, to be relaxed and happy and carefree.

Hermione wasn't as bad as she thought she would be. Sure Harry and Ginny were winning, but no one suggested they should trade teams, and every time that Hermione or Ron scored, or Ron blocked a goal they would fly past each other and kiss before speeding off again.

Hermione had never enjoyed a game of Quidditch so much before. Upon landing she dropped her broomstick and walked over to Ron again, kissing him and then hugging him in triumphant.

"You're early!" Harry said to Neville ignoring Ron and Hermione as they made out behind them.

"No, it's nearly six." Neville replied, smiling over at Ron and Hermione, as Ginny made retching noises.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, glancing down at his watch to verify the time before he hugged both Luna and Neville. The others quickly following suit.

"Fancy one last game?" Ginny said, looking beggingly at Harry.

It had been so long since she had played, she felt like she could never stop. She missed it during the last year more than she would have anticipated. It was just another thing that was taken away from her that she was glad to have back. It made her feel more like herself more than she had done in weeks.

"Yes!" Hermione exclaimed.

Everyone turned to her in surprise. She had a wide grin on her face and her arm was twisted around Ron's, her eyes sparkling. Never before had she enjoyed sport so much. Any type of sport. But the last few hours had been perfect.

They had laughed with each other as they soared above the ground. Laughing when they missed spectacularly, cheering when they scored, applauding when someone pulled off an amazing save, it had been a great afternoon, that had somewhere along the way turned into an evening.

They had played two on two so most of the rules didn't apply, but Hermione loved it all the same. She didn't even miss sitting against the tree reading her book, looking up every time there was an excess of noise from above.

Twenty minutes later they were heading back to the Burrow, brooms over their shoulders, Neville and Luna, Ginny and Harry, and Hermione and Ron all holding hands as they went. Luna was better than expected and Neville blew the others away, he had changed a lot since first year, probably the most out of all of them. It seemed as there wasn't anything he couldn't do anymore.

"Finally!" Molly said as they traipsed into the kitchen, smiling and laughing with each other.

"Sorry Mum." Ginny and Ron said in unison, not looking the least bit disheartened.

"You four need to wash up before dinner." Molly said her eyes scanning them each, seeing their hair blasted against the face and bits of dirt covering their arms and clothes.

They nodded and headed up the stairs. Luna and Neville left them and went back outside to mix and mingle with the guests they had passed on their way in. Ginny and Hermione veered off to their room to grab their clothes while Harry and Ron went up to their room.

Luckily they didn't only have one bathroom, so the shower didn't have a four person queue. Ron showered before Harry as Harry was hunting for a clean shirt while Ron slipped out the door and made his way to the shower. It was a few minutes before Harry had realised he had left, and he spent the time speaking to an empty room.

"Can you wake up George dinner is almost ready." Molly said, as Ron walked past the kitchen on his way outside. He had quickly showered, then put on his jeans and a dark green dress shirt, it wasn't the occasion for robes, and Ron hated wearing them in this heat.

"Sure thing." Ron said, frowning slightly as he turned back to the staircase and ran up to George's room.

He could hear the water running from both showers, as he clambered up the stairs.

"She's in the shower." Ginny said as she looked down on Ron. She was leaning against her bedroom door in a pale blue dress, smiling at Ron as he ran up the stairs.

"Who… oh right. Not what I'm here for." Ron said, stopping for a second looking confused before running past her.

"Sure." Ginny yelled up at him, closing her bedroom door behind her and heading to the stairs.

"Harry should be down soon." He yelled back.

He looked back at her as she ran down the staircase shaking her head. Walking up the rest of the steps, he slowed down as he came closer to George's room. He knocked, softly.

No reply.

His hand grasped the door handle, turned it slowly and pushed the door open.

"George?" Ron whispered, as he looked around the door.

George lay in his bed, his sheets kicked onto the floor. His bed drenched in sweat, his shirt sticking to his skin. He was slowly writhing, his lips moving quickly but no sound was coming out. His breaths were short and rapid, he sounded like he was hyperventilating. The only other sound that came from the noise was a low almost humming sound.

"George!" Ron exclaimed, shutting the door hastily behind him as he swept into the room.

George hadn't mentioned anything about these nightmares he was having, and judging by the clearance zone around the bed, this was not a first time occurrence. Ron pulled his wand out of his back pocket, pointed it at the door, and thought _'Muffliato'._

"George!" Ron repeated louder this time, as he moved towards him. He bent down and noticed that the almost humming sound was George's frantic mutterings in his sleep.

Pausing for a moment wondering how best to wake him, he decided against shaking him awake. Pointing his wand at George's face he thought for a second before water squirted out of it, pouring an entire bucket worth onto George.

George spluttered. The humming and the writhing stopped. His eyes flashed open and he leant forward and grabbed Ron by the shirt pulling him down towards him.

"George..?" Ron said, his eyes widening at the frantic look in George's eyes.

George's expression softened, as he registered both the voice and the face of his brother. Releasing his grip he lowered himself back into bed, then realising it was drenched sat back up and climbed off the bed.

"Harry should be out now." Ron said as George slowly approached the door.

"Out of…" George stopped and turned to face Ron, looking confused.

"Of the shower." Ron cut across him. He yanked upon the cupboard doors, pulled out a change of clothes and chucked them over to George.

"Ok." George said slowly, looking down at the bundle in his hand. He wasn't the same as he was a few hours ago downstairs. His personality seemed to have been shaved away while he slept, all the laughter and cheer sapped out of him, his smile seemed to have disappeared. He was right back where he was a few days ago.

"George.." Ron whispered, taking a step towards him, not knowing what to say or what to do.

He was his big brother, who always teased him but loved him all the same. Ron was never meant to take care of him, it wasn't the way it worked. And now that he had to, he didn't know how to make it better. Nothing would fill that gap inside either of them, nothing but time.

George turned and placed his hand on the door handle. He hesitated and looked back at Ron.

"Don't mention this to Mum aye?" George said his voice low but clear.

"Obviously." Ron replied, rooted to the spot. George gave a faint smile, then went to turn away again but his eyes rested on Ron.

"Or Dad." George said, his expression unreadable.

"I won't tell anyone if that's what you want." Ron said, looking sadly at his broken brother. George said nothing for a moment, just standing still, looking away into the distance.

"That would probably be best." George said. He looked up at Ron again, nodded, pulled open the door and shut it quietly behind him.

He left Ron alone in the twins room, staring at the Fred's made bed that remained untouched. He knew that seeing that each night before he switched off the light would not help George in any respect. A light bulb flashed over his head, although faded for a moment when he considered it may not be the best way to deal with this issue.

Running out of George's room he jumped up the stairs and reached George in a matter of seconds.

"What?" George snapped, as Ron jumped in front of him blocking his path.

"I want your room." Ron said, crossing his arms and smiling down at him.

"You want my room?" George said, raising one eyebrow.

"Yes." Ron said.

"Why?" George said, looking up at him curiously.

"Because Harry and I deserve a bigger room. You can have my cramped one up stairs away from civilisation." Ron said his smile widening.

"And you'll be closer to Ginny's room, which is coincidentally where Hermione is supposed to be sleeping right?" George asked, smiling more as Ron turned pink.

"Coincidentally yes." Ron replied, as it dawned on him how much better that would be for everyone involved.

"And why am I going to give you my room." George said looking amused.

"Because." Ron smiled down at him.

"Are you going to blackmail me? You'll tell if I won't move." George said, his smile growing. He doubted that Ron would be successful in this endeavour.

"No nothing like that. But I think it may help you, to not... It might help." Ron said, his eyes looking down at the ground as he spoke, not wanting to see George's reactions to his words.

George opened his mouth a rhetoric already ready to go, but he shut his mouth again. He kept his gaze on a random point behind Ron as he stood, thinking.

"Ok." George said slowly.

"But?" Ron said looking up at George.

"But nothing." George said a blank expression on his face. The shower turned off above them, the only sound left was the chattering of the happy people downstairs floating up from the kitchen.

"So you're just going to let me have your room?" Ron said, sounding unsure. There must be some rule, some clause, there always was. He had always loved the twins but had to accept they would always bend the rules, and he was afraid this was no exception.

"Sure, I'm game." George said smiling. "You have to convince Mum though."

Ron groaned he knew there was going to be something.

"Good luck with that." George said patting him on the back before he pushed past him and made his way upstairs to take a shower. Leaving Ron alone on the staircase, a plan formulating in his head.

**Hope that you enjoyed this chapter as usual I'm going to ask you to please review, I really love knowing what you guys think.  
Also check out my other fics :)**


	7. Chapter 7 - Questions

"Ron you coming?" Harry asked from the doorway, he was showered and dressed, ready to head out to the dinner party.

Ron stopped on the last step, deep in thought. Looking towards the kitchen, where his mother was busily cooking, back to Harry, the door open behind him, showing him the yard.

"Just a minute." Ron said, he smiled at Harry who followed Ron's gaze with a curious look before heading outside, letting the door shut behind him.

Ron remained on the step, not knowing what to say, unsure of how to phrase it to make his mother see his views, and say yes. The only problem was he couldn't decide whether he wanted to be honest and do the concerned brother thing, or lie and pretend it was about him getting a bigger room that was closer to Hermione.

"Is.." Ginny called out from behind him, bringing his focus back to the room.

"He just went outside." Ron said cutting Ginny short, they both knew what she was going to ask.

"Ok sweet." Ginny said, pushing past Ron as she walked hurriedly towards the door a large smile on her face as she greeted the guests, then disappeared behind the door, which swung shut behind her.

Molly was still busy in the kitchen, seemingly remaining ignorant that Ron was waiting on the bottom step figuring out how to start a conversation with her. Ron watched her for a moment, wondering if she knew he was there.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see him lingering, obviously waiting for Hermione to come down. Turning to face the oven, hiding her face from view she smiled. It was about time, she thought to herself. Facing the bench to cut up some more vegetables, she saw Hermione gracefully running down the stairs towards him. Deliberately turning her back to them, her grin widened, they were cute, but she had caught enough of their secret snogging. Well what they thought was secret.

"Hello." Hermione whispered, slipping her hand into Ron's.

"Oh hi." Ron said, pulled out of his thoughts again. Leaning forward he kissed her quickly, before looking back to the kitchen, hoping his mother didn't catch that.

"Were you waiting for me?" Hermione said, her brown eyes looking lovingly at Ron.

"Sorta." Ron gave a furtive look to the kitchen, before wrapping his arms around Hermione, and kissing her, the way he had been wanting to do for years.

Molly cleared her throat from the kitchen, her back still turned to them. The effect was instantaneous, Hermione and Ron separated immediately, smiling at each other.

"Maybe we should take this outside?" Hermione whispered, her hand squeezing Ron's as she spoke.

"Yeah. I'll be out in a moment. Save me a seat." Ron said, looking back towards the kitchen, making up his mind. Kissing her on the top of her bushy brown hair, he pulled her hand from hers and made his way to the kitchen, as Hermione closed the door behind her as she smiled at the guests, giving one last look back at Ron, before the door separated them.

Ron leant against the cabinet, the sounds of laughter floating through the open kitchen window. Molly was busy cooking, not looking up at Ron, waiting for him to speak first.

"Mum.." Ron started, watching his mother, trying to gauge her mood. Wondering whether this was the right time to bring this up, or perhaps later would be better, when she wasn't so busy. Bloody hell, he thought to himself, just do it.

"Yes." Molly said, still pottering around the kitchen, waving her wand absentmindedly.

"Do you need any help?" Ron asked, a nervous expression now forming on his face.

"Ron what do you really want to ask me?" Molly stopped what she was doing, and turned to face Ron, giving him her sole attention. His eyes flicked to the ground momentarily, before looking into hers, a small smile held on his lips for a second, before fading as suddenly as it had appeared.

"Can Harry and I swap rooms with George?" Ron said, watching Molly's face carefully, ready to step backwards if she showed any signs of spontaneous yelling that she was accustomed to, although never without cause.

Molly's expression went blank, she was unreadable as she thought for a moment. Trying to see where Ron was coming from, trying to figure out if this was a good idea, weighing all of the options. Ron looked nervous as Molly stood frozen deep in thought. They waited in silence for a minute or so, the food cooking around them, vegetables been diced and sliced, muffled voices floating through the window.

"Yes." Molly said quietly, almost as if she was unsure of her decision.

"Yes?" Ron repeated slowly, not sure if her heard correctly, it never occurred to him that it would be this easy. He was sure that he would have to argue, to convince her.

"As long as he says yes." Molly said with an air of finality as she turned back to her cooking, flicking her wand quickly to save things from burning.

"He already did." Ron said, still looking stunned. The twins room, George's room wasn't much bigger than his, but it was bigger.

"Then ok." Molly said plating up the food, "You can move in after dinner, yes before dessert should be good." Molly added, thinking aloud.

"Ok. Well, I'm going to head outside." Ron said slowly backing out of the room, thinking that a sudden movement would change his mother's mind.

"Can you send Hermione in here for a moment." Molly asked looking up at her son before adding, "You don't have to look so worried, its nothing bad." Ron smiled weakly, before opening the door and heading outside.

What was left of the Order sat at the table, along with Luna, Neville and the Weasley's talking merrily. Hermione was deep in a conversation with Fleur, Ginny and Harry were a few metres away from everybody leaning against the tree, hidden from sight from most of the guests, sucking face. George sat at the far end of the table, talking to Charlie a small grin slowly appearing on his face. Ron walked past Hermione, who looked up at him and smiled as he passed, and headed towards George. He dropped to his knee beside him and whispered into his ear.

"She said yes." Ron whispered smugly.

"What!" George exclaimed, causing Ron to jump as he shouted in his ear. The rest of the table paused for a moment to look at them before continuing their conversations.

"I'm gonna get another drink." Charlie said looking between them, before rising from his chair and heading inside.

"So that's what you to were discussing in the kitchen." George said, looking thoughtfully at his brother. "How did you..?" He added, looking suddenly concerned.

"I didn't mention it I promise." Ron said hurriedly, wiping the concerned look off George's face. "I asked if we could swap, she stood silent and then said yes."

"It almost seems too good to be true." George said slowly, a mischievous grin forming on his face.

"We're swapping after dinner." Ron said ignoring his brothers remark, straightened up and headed towards Hermione.

**Please review this chapter, I love getting reviews they make my day :)  
Keep an eye out for my hp Christmas drabbles that come out on December 1****st**** :)**


	8. Chapter 8 - Dinner

The girls had decorated the trees while Ron was in the kitchen, they were full of sparkling lights, that were not very clear at the moment, but by the time the stars came out they would be beautiful. Hermione ended her conversation with Fleur, and turned smiling towards Ron.

Ron kissed her lightly on the lips, fully aware that his father was sitting a few chairs down from them.

"Mum wants to speak to you." Ron said, as they pulled away.

"What? Why?" Hermione said, a frantic look forming in her eyes, looking intently at Ron for answers.

"It's nothing bad." Ron echoed his mother, kissing Hermione on the forehead before glancing down at the empty chair beside her, as she rose from her seat.

"Ok." Hermione said, giving a small smile to Ron before wandering towards the house, leaving Ron to warn Harry and Ginny that Molly would be out soon.

Opening the backdoor she slowly approached the kitchen, growing more worried by the second, what was Molly going to say. Did she know about her night time trips upstairs? No, she couldn't, Hermione reassured herself, they had been quiet. She couldn't know.

"Molly?" Hermione said, unknowingly leaning against the same cabinet that Ron leant on only moments ago.

"Hello dear." Molly answered, not looking up from her recipe book.

"Do you need a hand?" Hermione asked, wringing her hands nervously.

Molly looked up at her and chuckled, she had known her for years, she could tell that Hermione was unsure how this conversation was about to go. Placing the recipe book back in the cupboard she turned to her cooking, flicking her wand. Not wanting to beat around the bush, planning to catch Hermione by surprise she went straight to the point.

"You two are sleeping together." Molly said, not taking her eyes off her cooking as she spoke to Hermione who blushed beside her.

"How did you.." Hermione started her eyes wide in surprise.

"Surprising as it may seem I am aware of everything that goes on in this house." Molly said briskly, turning placing the cooked vegetables into a dish.

"Everything." Hermione muttered to herself, going redder by the second.

"Yes, I have already spoken to Harry and Ginny about their behaviour." Molly said as she plated some food with a flick of her wand and sent it outside to the table where everyone was gathered outside.

"I.." Hermione started, her eyes no longer focusing on the floor as Molly turned towards her, giving Hermione her full attention.

"Now you are both of age.." Molly started her eyes not cold with fury but warm with their usual love, which surprised Hermione even more.

"It's my nightmares!" Hermione burst out, interrupting Molly midstream. Molly raised her eyebrow only slightly, which shut Hermione up immediately.

"I am fully aware of the circumstances my dear. And I have no problem with you two as long as it remains just sleeping together. I know that I speak for your parents also when I say in no universe will you to be able to sex in this house." Molly said, speaking calmly but firmly, her eyes seemed ready to flare at hesitation or resistance from Hermione.

"That won't be a problem I swear!" Hermione exclaimed blushing profusely.

"I was young and in love myself at your age, even with your best intentions I am sure this issue will arise at some point. But for now your word is enough." Molly said, smiling at Hermione as she spoke. This chat was going a damn sight better than her little chat with Ginny.

Hermione smiled back at Molly not quite knowing what to say, not wanting to say the wrong thing, he was her son after all, her baby boy.

"Now let's go and get some dinner, before the boys eat it all. You can tell the others everything afterwards." Molly said, as she pulled off her apron and approached the door. Hermione followed, the blush in her cheeks finally vanishing.

"What was that about?" Ron whispered to Hermione as she sat down next to him. The food had reached the table before Molly and Hermione, but no one had touched it yet, they sat chatting, not wanting to stop their conversations. Ginny and Harry were only holding hands, careful not to anger Molly, and were deep in conversation, smiling and laughing.

"She knows we're sleeping together." Hermione whispered back, smiling at Ginny and Harry as they turned around at the sound of her voice.

"And.." Ron said, kissing Hermione on the cheek, wanting to do more but knowing it was not the best move under his mother's watchful gaze, especially after she had just given him permission to move closer to Hermione, and Harry to Ginny.

"She's not fussed, as long as it's just sleeping." Hermione whispered back, lowering her voice further as the conversations paused, Molly had brought out the rest of the dishes, and the table was gradually hushing. Ginny and Harry turned away from each other, and placed both their hands on the table in front of them. Fleur dropped back in her seat beside Bill with two drinks in her hands, after she had just finished her conversation with Charlie. After the Weasley's initial hate for Fleur had died down, they had all become quite close especially over the last few months.

Dinner was delicious as usual and as expected. They all sat together chatting merrily and laughing at one another. As the food quickly disappeared in front of them, the sun began to climb down the sky and soon the sky was purple and pink and the bugs were beginning to encircle the hanging lights. Molly and Fleur flicked their wands and collected all the dishes and Molly looked over at Ron who took it as his cue to get up.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked as Ron stood up beside her and looked over at Harry who promptly stood up. They had had a whispered discussion throughout dinner, they were ready to move now. Harry couldn't believe that it would be their room, he felt like they were in Ron's room but now, it would be their room.

"To move into George's room." Ron said kissing Hermione, before stepping towards Harry and looking over at George who stood up as well. Hopefully he would be able to get a proper night's sleep.

"Do you.." Hermione asked, looking from George, to Harry then back at Ron again.

"No its fine, hopefully we won't be too long." Ron said smiling at her before turning away and heading off towards the house with George and Harry by his sides, their cheery voices wafted back to Hermione before the door was shut behind them and they were cut off.

Hermione sat quiet for a few minutes trying to work out the reason for them moving, while the others chatted around her. Bill and Charlie were getting considerably more drunk as the minutes passed, so Fleur sent them both inside as she didn't want to hear their yelling. Bill gave Fleur an extremely passionate kiss before heading inside with Charlie to play wizard chess. Giving up Hermione turned to Ginny who was talking to Luna. She waited for Ginny to pause before she butted in.

"Why are they moving?" Hermione asked, smiling apologetically at Luna who smiled dreamily back and then got up and wandered over to Hagrid and started chatting to him.

"Because there are two of them and one of George." Ginny replied, she took a sip of her butterbeer.

"So they need a bigger room." Hermione pondered aloud, still not sure that was the real reason but knew that it made sense, it could just be something simple. Not everything had a big complicated reason.

"Yeah, why else?" Ginny said raising her eyebrow, she took another sip of butterbeer and smiled over at her mother.

"To be closer to you." Hermione said grinning at Ginny who flushed red, she wasn't embarrassed just remembering her argument with her mother regarding Harry and her and their level of pda.

"Or you." Ginny added smirking at Hermione.

"Both probably." Hermione replied as Neville walked towards them, with a butterbeer in his hand.

Neville sat down in Luna's vacated chair and they chatted to him for the next hour. Yelling from the house wafted towards the table, but it was so muffled it was impossible to tell if it was from Bill and Charlie or George, Harry and Ron.

The moon and stars were out by the time Molly stood up and announced that dessert was ready. Sending Neville upstairs to check on the moving, she went inside and sent the desserts outside in a few minutes. Neville didn't come back downstairs for another hour, until Luna went up to get him, as they were heading off together, they were both staying at the same motel as both of their homes were still been rebuilt.

"Can't believe they missed dessert." Ginny said as they headed towards the house. The guests had left, yelling goodbyes up the stairs to George, Ron and Harry who shouted down but did not come to downstairs to bid them goodbye in person. Only seven of them remained in the house.

**XX**

**I hope you liked this chapter, please review :) and make sure you check out my Bite Sized Christmas Drabbles :)**


	9. Chapter 9 - Undisturbed

**XX**

It was just past midnight, all of their belongings had been moved. There were a few incidents involving some interesting items hidden in George's room, which he had forgotten and made a bit of mess when touched. A few of their belongings collided on the stairs but nothing that broke was not able to be fixed. Neither Ron nor George would move into each other's room, until the room had been scrubbed and washed and dusted, they didn't want to have to do themselves. So they took an extra hour cleaning every surface before moving into their new rooms.

Harry finally had room to unpack his clothes that Molly had insisted he bought, after seeing his ripped and tight clothing and had sent Hermione, Ron and Harry out to buy new clothes, muggle clothes. He could now unpack everything and was surprised when he discovered how many possessions he now had, after living the first 11 years of his life with nothing. They had also retrieved the belongings he had left in Privet Drive, and by the time Harry and Ron had finished unpacking they were physically exhausted and shocked that everything had a place in their room.

After showering and getting into their clean sheets in their fresh pyjamas, Harry slipped off to Ginny's room and Hermione slipped into Ron's bed. She was half asleep when she put her cold feet up against Ron. Ron wrapped his arm around her and she was asleep in seconds.

He however couldn't sleep. He shut his eyes and tried to clear his mind but he simply couldn't do it. Every half hour he checked the clock, but only 4 minutes had gone past. After feeling as though he had been lying in bed awake for 4 hours and only 32 minutes had passed he sat up slowly, moved past Hermione and stood up, glancing back at her sleeping figure before shutting the door behind him.

Wide awake, but exhausted, he had no idea where he wanted to go, but found he had his wand in his hand, and found his feet leading him up the stairs to his old room in the darkness, he had walked this familiar path thousands of times, he knew exactly where he was heading, he was just unsure why.

Reaching the door, his hand hovered over the door handle for a second, he straining his ears, trying to hear something, anything, but he could only make the usual sounds of the house at night. Pushing the door open quietly, he lit his wand and shined it towards where his bed used to lie, but now George's bed was there, with him lying in it.

Shielding the light with his hand, careful not to wake George, he left the door wide open behind him as he approached the bed, checking whether or not George was having another nightmare. He wanted to be sure that this room change was actually helping him, because otherwise he was out of ideas. George's blankets still covered his still body, he wasn't covered with sweat, he didn't look as though he was in pain, he wasn't muttering to himself, he was fine.

Ron turned to leave, but couldn't make himself step out of the door, he just couldn't leave. Realising why he brought his wand he summoned an armchair, desperately hoping it would fit through the doorframe and wouldn't hit anything on the way, so that it wouldn't wake anybody in this house up, on its way to the room.

The armchair flew past Ron who stepped away from the door, and landed by George's bed facing the window, which gave the only light to the room from the moon, now that Ron's wand was extinguished.

Shutting the door quietly Ron walked over towards the armchair, even without light he knew which floorboard to avoid, he had lived in this room his entire life he knew it back to front. Placing his wand on the arm of the chair, he dropped down, and kept his tired eyes fixed on George.

He was steadily breathing and out, from the moon light that touched George's face Ron could see him sleeping peacefully. Watching him for a few minutes, the rhythm of steady breathing lulled Ron to sleep. Finally after endless hours of been awake he heavy eyelids dropped and he feel asleep, hoping that his snoring wouldn't wake George up. Hoping that George wouldn't need to be woken up.

Dawn had long since broken, and the sun was shining through the window right onto Ron's face, forcing himself out of his sleep, out of dreams and into the world of reality. His open eyes immediately flicked to George who remained fast asleep, hopefully blissfully unaware of Ron's presence in the room. His neck hurt, as did his arm that he had been lying on. He cracked his neck, stretched his arms and stood up, stretching his body. Glancing down at his watch, he saw it was 5.23am, it was time to head back to bed. Deciding against sending the chair back to the living room unaided, he used the hover charm, opened the door, then took one last look at George who still lay peace and undisturbed, before shutting the door quietly behind him.

He made his way slowly down the staircase, carefully avoiding the steps that creaked in certain places, he didn't want to wake anyone up, but he had to move quickly, his dad would be up by 5.30. Placing the chair carefully in the living room he headed to the kitchen, and poured himself a glass of water. Sculling it he left it upside down on the bench, now if anyone asked, he could say he got himself a drink.

Glancing down at his watch he turned out of the kitchen and ran up the stairs as quickly and quietly as he could, his dads alarm would be going off in just under one minute. Almost missing his new bedroom, he doubled back and stood outside the door for a second gathering his breath. Taking a deep breath in, he opened the door quietly and shut it behind him.

Hermione was still fast asleep and Harry was lying in his bed. Shit. He forgot that Harry didn't stay the whole night with Ginny, especially after Molly 'chatted' with Ginny. How long was he awake for, wondering where Ron was? Hopefully, he just came in half asleep and didn't even notice.

Lightly placing his wand on his bedside table, he picked up the covers and climbed into bed, wrapping his arm around Hermione and pulling her close to him as he shut his eyes and fell asleep again.

**XX**


	10. Chapter 10 - Notice

**XX**

The sun fell on Ron's face as he was awake once more, having only shut his eyes a few short hours ago. He stifled a yawn as he saw Harry watching him from across the room where he lay silently.

"Where were you last night?" Harry whispered, still careful not to wake Hermione who was still fast asleep, her alarm wouldn't go off for another minute.

"Just got a drink from the kitchen." Ron replied, getting out of bed again and walking towards the set of drawers sitting in the corner, avoiding Harry's gaze.

"Ok." Harry didn't sound convinced, he saw the way Ron touched his neck as he walked, it was still stiff from sleeping on an armchair, but Harry didn't know that. Despite the obvious lack of sleep, from the bags underneath his eyes and his covered yawn, he seemed to be happy which made Harry even more curious.

"Ok." Ron replied as he grabbed a change of clothes and turned back to Harry before giving him a fleeting smile and heading out the door, off to the shower.

Harry stayed on the edge of his bed, his gaze on the door which Ron had just vanished through with Hermione across the room still fast asleep in bed, her face calm. Pushing Ron's night time adventures out of his head Harry scanned the room, their room. He finally had his own room, well technically it wasn't his own room, but it was Ron and Harry's room.

He had Grimmauld Place, but right now he didn't want to go back there, he couldn't go back there yet. He couldn't face the memories, it was hard enough after Sirius died, but after Tonks, after Lupin, after Fred, after everybody, he wouldn't be able to go back, not yet.

Pushing that out of his head, he went back to admiring their room. It hadn't taken them long to move in, they did it in one go, mainly because none of them wanted this to stretch out and take days, like stuff often did when they paused to reminisce, but none of them wanted to hold onto fond memories while moving, it would just make everything too hard. Sometimes everything was too hard.

"Harry?" Hermione muttered, her hand slamming down on her alarm clock, and her eyes squinting over at Harry as registered the light that was streaming in through the open window.

"Morning." Harry said smiling at Hermione smiled back as she grabbed her hairtie off the bedside table and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. "How'd you sleep?" Harry asked as Hermione pushed back the sheets and swung her legs over the bed, placing her bare feet against the cold wood.

"Perfectly." Hermione smiled, remembering what it felt like to lie in Ron's arms and wondering why she waited so many years to do so. "You?"

"Good." Harry replied, turning away from Hermione and staring down at his hands, he was no longer getting his old nightmares, he didn't have any at the moment, but that could change with time. It seemed after all these years, he was the only one without nightmares.

"Getting used to heading back to bed after Ginny's peacefully sleeping?" Hermione asked, staring intently at Harry.

"How did you…" Harry looked up quickly, he didn't think that they had figured it out yet, but who was he kidding, this was Hermione.

"Harry, you guys are my best friends, god you're my family, I notice." Hermione cut off Harry as she moved from Ron's bed and sat down beside Harry, looking at him with a worried expression on her face.

"Does Ron?" Harry started again, somehow already knowing the answer, but wanting to ask the question anyway, just in case he was wrong.

"Of course, she is his sister." Hermione replied, giving Harry a small sad smile, he wasn't alone in this, they were all damaged by the war, they were all patching each other up, together.

Hermione and Harry sat in silence for a few minutes, as the sun shone down on them as they sat deep in thought, wondering when things would get better, if they would ever be able to stop reliving the past, stop visiting horrors in their sleep. Harry hadn't seen anything he couldn't handle in his dreams yet and Hermione's hadn't bothered her lately, but just because their nightmares weren't there didn't mean they weren't waiting on the side lines ready to strike. They were both hoping that they would be ready when they did.

"Is Ron okay?" Harry asked, looking over at Hermione, breaking the silence. Hermione didn't answer for a few seconds, just stared at the floor, deep in thought.

"As okay as one is in the circumstances." Hermione replied looking up at Harry looking concerned.

"No nightmares?" Harry asked, his eyes flitting to the bed where Ron slept, where Ron hadn't been in when he came in last night. Perhaps he was in the kitchen, but maybe he wasn't.

"Not as far as I can tell. Are you getting them?" Hermione spoke slowly, as though she was still running through her conversations with Ron, trying to figure out whether he was getting nightmares that none of them knew about it. Was it just Ginny and her or did the horror infect Ron and Harry's supposedly peaceful slumbers as well.

"Not badly." Harry answered truthfully, his eyes still resting on Ron's bed.

"What does that mean?" Hermione watched him quizzically, but he didn't look up from Ron's bed, so she just sat silently as he thought for a few moments, constructing how he was going to say it.

"Better than what I had.. before." Harry muttered, not wanting to relive those visions, that he had denied enjoying in a sense, he had never told Hermione before how he had felt about seeing them, but he was glad that they were over, for good. They were painful, but they were useful.

"They weren't really nightmares though.." Hermione started.

"I know." Harry cut Hermione off, moving his gaze from Ron's bed and turning to face Hermione, who gave Harry an apologetic look before smiling.

"They're over now and they're never coming back." Hermione declared, grinning at Harry. Sure the nightmares could return for her, and Harry's nightmares could worsen, but at least those horrors would only plague their sleep. For now, the world was relatively peaceful, which hopefully meant that their nightmares wouldn't turn into reality.

"Thank god for that." Harry said giving Hermione a smile before scanning the room again. They sat in silence for a few seconds, listening to the sounds of the house. Everyone was awake now, Arthur had already left, so only six remained, but more would come to visit soon. Social calls had gone up since the war ended.

"Sounds like the showers free, see you at breakfast." Hermione said getting up and grabbing her pile of clean clothes as they heard the distinct sound of the shower turning off.

"Yeah." Harry replied to an empty room. Hermione had already shut the door behind her when he had answered her, he was too busy staring at his new room. He knew it wouldn't last long, George still had his flat, hence why the move was so simple, not everything was unpacked from Muriel's and not everything from the flat had been saved. Sooner or later, both George and Hermione would be gone, but for now, now they were all together. Hanging onto that thought Harry smiled to himself before standing up off the bed and rummaging through his clothes to grab a clean t shirt before heading upstairs to shower.

**XX**


	11. Chapter 11 - Worry

**XX**

After three nights of sneaking up to George's room once Hermione was asleep, falling asleep in an armchair brought up from the lounge, and sneaking back into bed after hovering the chair back into the living room and planting a used glass on the bench as an excuse for disappearing during the night, Ron was exhausted. His neck was no longer sore as he had learnt to bring a pillow up with the armchair but he was tired, as he was wary of been caught especially by George, so made himself sit uncomfortably so that he wouldn't over sleep. Each night, just like the first night, George would lay peacefully, without squirming and mumbling, he seemed to be fine.

On the fourth night since they had switched rooms, Ron lay in bed with his arms wrapped around Hermione wished her goodnight and waited for her to go to sleep. Her breath slowed and grew steady as his eyelids fluttered and in his tiredness he fell asleep with her.

The moon was shining through the window when Ron woke up with a start. Harry was pulling the blankets over himself, having just got back from Ginny's room, the opening or closing of the door must have woken Ron up. He lay silently for a few minutes, waiting for Harry to fall asleep before he slipped out of bed and out the door and quietly ascended the staircase, making his way up to his old room, to George.

Reaching the door, he quietly opened it, checked that George was asleep, left the door open wide and summoned the armchair, which silently sailed into the room and landed where it had been for four nights in a row now. Shutting the door quietly behind him, Ron stepped over the creaking floor board and sank into the arm chair, placing the pillow beneath his head before resting his eyes on George.

"You're late." George whispered, causing Ron to jump out of the chair and fall onto the ground onto his ass.

"Merlin!" Ron exclaimed as he stood up and rubbed his head which he hit on his way to the floor and dropped onto the armchair, staring at George who was now lying face down into his pillow in an attempt to muffle his laughs.

"Didn't mean to frighten you, it was just an observation." George whispered as he rolled over, after a few minutes of silent laughter while Ron got over his initial shock and confirmed that his tailbone was not in fact broken.

"How.." Ron started staring at George who sat up in his bed, repositioned his pillow and leant against the wall before flicking the light on, which blinded both Ron and him, so Ron quickly dimmed it.

"How long have I known? How long have I been awake? How long before I told you? How.." George asked, smiling at Ron who blushed slightly and stared at the ground.

"George." Ron muttered, cutting George off mid-question.

"That's enough hows then so what about some whys?" George said as Ron flicked his wand towards the door, performing the muffling charm so that their conversation wouldn't wake anyone up or be overheard.

"How about because I missed my old room." Ron replied, smirking at George.

"You don't have to keep checking up on me, I'm fine. You've been here for three nights already, you're exhausted. Plus if I was still getting them, wouldn't you know by now?" George said, grateful for his brothers concern but wishing he didn't need it. Ron was his little brother who him and Fred used to tease, he wasn't supposed to be looking after him, that wasn't right.

"Nobody is ever 'fine', you are most certainly not 'fine' none of us are 'fine'. 'Fine' is bullshit." Ron replied, a stern look on his face and his tried not to yell. He was tired and his was pissed off with everyone being 'fine', he was over the lies and the excuses, they were not 'fine'.

"What.." George started, a small smirk on his face as a joke formed in his mouth and danced on the edge of his tongue.

"George!" Ron cut George off he didn't want to hear him joke, not right now.

"This isn't a slumber party Ron, we're not going to have heart to hearts, this is…" George replied, he didn't want to broach the subject, neither of them did, but both of them knew they had to sooner or later.

"I'm not going to ask who you kissed, who you've got a crush on. I'm worried about…" Ron said, cutting George off again, it seemed that neither of them would let each other finish their trains of thoughts.

"Well don't be." George said, cutting off Ron. They sat in silence, with neither of them knowing what to say next. The moon shone above them, painfully reminding Ron of Lupin, who would have drunk his potion hours prior to the full moon rising. Tearing his eyes away from the moon, he stared at the floor, aware that George was watching him closely.

"I…" Ron started, looking up at George and breaking the silence that hung over the room.

"You're so busy worrying about everyone, have you given a thought to yourself?" George cut across Ron, his eyes soft and his voice harsh.

"Why would I…" Ron looked surprised, he hadn't expected this topic to come up, he wasn't worried about himself, it was George he was worried about now, and Hermione revisiting the Manor in her nightmares while he was upstairs watching over George.

"Have you had a proper night's sleep since… since…" George asked, he wasn't able to say what came after since, he had accepted it now, but he still couldn't say it, the words were not able to tumble out of his mouth, his eyes misted over and he just sat staring at Ron, as he trailed off.

"Yes I…" Ron replied, ignoring the since, he knew exactly what George meant, but he couldn't say it either.

"When you weren't so exhausted you collapsed onto your pillow, or when your head wasn't full of concern for Hermione, or Ginny, or Harry, or me or anyone?" George asked, his face full of concern as he watched Ron closely, Ron never was very good with processing his emotions. It took him years to admit to loving Hermione, so it was hard to tell how much of what had happened he had accepted, or if he just pushed everything to the back of his mind to deal with another day.

"Probably." Ron muttered, not able to look at George when he spoke.

"How are you?" George asked, leaning forward off his pillow as he watched Ron, whose gaze steadily rose from the floor before stopping just a bit above George's head.

"I thought this wasn't…" Ron answered, his eyes lowering a little bit as he looked at George.

"Just answer the question Ron." George said quietly but clearly, cutting Ron off midstream.

"I'm…" Ron answered, hesitating for a moment before adding, "fine."

"I thought…" George replied, smirking as he spoke.

"Shut up." Ron cut him off, he wasn't 'fine' they both knew they weren't but what else could he say. They sat in silence for a few minutes with George smirking at him before Ron added, "I liked it better when you pretended to sleep."

"Well we can't always get what we want." George replied with a laugh, it was so good to see a real smile on his face, and hear his laugh again, Ron couldn't help but laugh too.

"Ain't that the truth." Ron replied, his laugh freezing when he looked out the window again, just for a second, and the full moon caused his heart to skip a beat. He knew that he would never be able to look at full moon again without feeling overwhelming grief. It reminded him of Lupin, which would remind him of Tonks, and then of baby Teddy, who now had no parents, and then it would remind him of the battle, and everyone who died. The only person it didn't remind him of was Fred, because he never forgot him for a second, he was always in the front of his mind, and that would never change.

Silence engulfed the room again, George lay back down in bed and Ron got comfortable, knowing there was no point waking up early to leave as George already knew he was here, so he had lost the need to sneak out just after dawn. George's breathing slowed and Ron stared out the window, up at the moon, letting the silent tears stream down his face.

Ron shut his eyes, stretched out his legs and listened to George's constant breathing, letting it lull him to sleep. The moon was slowly descending, the sun would be out soon, and Ron would need to head back in a two or three hours.

"They're worried about you." George whispered, causing Ron's body to tense as he almost fell back onto the floor, he was sure he was asleep now.

"Who?" Ron whispered back groggily, he was almost asleep.

"The others, Harry knows you're not getting thirsty. You're beds have been next to each other since you were 11." George whispered back, both their eyes were shut, they were on the brink of sleep.

"Oh." Ron mumbled, he hadn't figured that.

"What are you going to tell them?" George whispered after a few moments silence, he almost sounded a bit tense, wondering if Ron would mention his nightmares.

"Not this. Maybe I feel the need to do some pre-dawn fishing." Ron whispered back, knowing what George was thinking, he needed an excuse, that didn't involve the truth.

"Without catching anything?" George whispered back, they had been fishing before, one holiday when Hermione and Harry came to visit a few years back. Thanks to their fathers fascination with the Muggles, Hermione taught them, Ron and Ginny were the best, they caught 14 fish between the two of them, without magic. Fred and George had spent their time discretely ruining Percy's attempts to fish, which they had considered the best way to spend their day.

"De-gnoming?" Ron whispered back after a minute deep in thought, both of them stuck for ideas.

"What about uhm… yaga?" George whispered, searching for the name.

"What?" Ron failed at covering his laugh, he grinned at George as he exploded with laughter.

"That thing that Ginny and Hermione do, that Muggle stretching thing." George whispered back when Ron had stopped laughing.

"Ohh! Yoga." Ron replied, laughing again and George couldn't help but laugh with him. Their faces felt weird, laughter came few and far between these days, their muscles weren't used to it.

"Yeah that." George said, grinning at Ron.

"Needs work." Ron replied after a moment of consideration, a horrible vision of them asking him to join in due to his night time sessions, convinced him not to use that excuse.

"I'm sure you'll think of something." George whispered back, grinning at Ron, he couldn't wait to hear what he came up with in the end, it would no doubt be lacklustre.

"Now shut up and let me sleep." Ron said, closing his eyes again and repositioning himself, for maximum comfort. George lay back down, flicked the curtains shut with his wand before rolling over, he didn't want the sun to wake Ron up, he needed to sleep in.

"You're like my cranky guardian angel." George whispered, with a grin on his face as he fell into sleep.

"You should be so lucky." Ron mumbled, as waved his wand, nulling the muffling spell before falling asleep himself.

**XX**


	12. Chapter 12 - Stuff

**XX**

The sun shone through the open curtain onto Hermione, as she squinted at the window before blindly grabbing her wand off the bedside table and shutting the curtains, covering her face in shadow. Harry shifted in his sleep, he was on the brink of consciousness. Taking a deep breath, Hermione lifted her head to look at the clock ticking silently on the wall. It was almost 8am.

The bed lay bare beside her, she moved her hand to where Ron usually lay and the bed was cold, he hadn't lain there in a while, maybe a few hours. It wasn't like him to wake up early, he would only be half-awake when Hermione left his room in the morning, but now he was already up.

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes and looked across at Hermione as he alarm went off, forcing him out of his last layer of sleep and into reality. The shower went on above them, and Hermione's gaze went to the cupboard which was ajar. Maybe Ron was in the shower and he had just left a few minutes ago, maybe he wasn't gone for hours.

"What time did you get back?" Hermione asked Harry as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up slowly.

"The moon was out, but no clue what time. Why?" Harry replied, yawning as he sat up and rubbed his eyes, he didn't like waking up early either but there was so much stuff still to be down around the house so he would need to.

"Was Ron here?" Hermione asked, feeling her cheeks flush red, she isn't sure why she asks, and part of her wishes she didn't, but the words tumble out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

"Yeah, why?" Harry raises his eyebrow, and his eyes follow her to the door where she hovers for a second before opening in it.

"Honestly, I don't know why I asked. I'm going to take a shower." Hermione pauses by the door as she shrugs to Harry, she wishes she knew if there was a reason for her asking but she can't really find it, she's worried about Ron that's all she decides.

Ginny isn't asleep in her bed when Hermione enters her room, her hairbrush is gone so it must be her in the shower not Ron as she had originally thought. Grabbing a clean change of clothes and a hair tie Hermione made her way upstairs. Luckily they didn't have only one shower, although Ginny was in the shower that Hermione preferred as she could see her reflection in the mirror when she was washing her face and more importantly it was warmer.

Ten minutes later Hermione made her way down the staircase with her hair wet, as she dried it with a towel attempting to dry it the Muggle way as she left her wand down in Ron's room. Trying to not trip down the stairs at the same time as drying her hair Hermione didn't even notice Ginny making her way up the staircase until she had stopped in front of her.

"Could you?" Ginny says as she grins at Hermione whose absent minded expression fades and she smiles up at Ginny who finishes her French plait and gets Hermione to tie it.

"You coming?" Ginny asks as she walks beside Hermione down the stairs towards their room. For a moment Hermione wonders why she changed direction until it occurs to her that she came to fetch her.

When they reach the kitchen Hermione stops talking as she checks out the window, trying to find any sign of Ron but he is nowhere to be found and neither is George. Harry sits at the table with half a piece of toast sitting on his plate as he takes a sip of orange juice, before placing his glass down, wiping his mouth quickly and kissing Ginny.

Hermione turns her back on the two of them as their kiss deepened and she grabs two bowls from the cabinet, leaving one on the bench for Ginny and placing her bowl beside it as she walks over to the cupboard to grab the cereal.

Halfway through pouring it into her bowl she noticed a piece of paper stuck on the edge of the box, with her name written on it in Ron's handwriting. Finishing pouring her cereal in she dropped the box on the bench beside her bowl and tore off the note, hungrily scanning Ron's writing.

_Be back some time this arvo.  
Ron & George._

Hermione flipped the note over expecting to find more, this could not be all he had written. When did he leave? Why did he leave? Where were they?

He hadn't answered any of the questions swimming around her skull, she wanted to know more. But she would have to wait, she could wait.

"Ron and George will be back this afternoon." Hermione announced as she poured milk onto her cereal before turning back to the table where Ginny and Harry were now separated, both looking surprised.

"Back from?" Ginny asked as she leapt up from Harry's lap and headed to the bench. Hermione sat down across from Harry as Ginny poured cereal and milk into her bowl at the same time.

"Wherever they are." Hermione replied, shrugging at Harry as he gave her a questioning look.

"Do you at least know what they are doing?" Ginny asked as she dropped into the chair next to Hermione and handed her a spoon before digging into her cereal, she was starving.

"No idea." Hermione answered. Harry exchanged a look with her, they were both semi-worried, especially about George and how he was dealing. It was good that George and Ron had a day just to themselves but Harry wished he knew where that was. Standing up he grabbed another piece of toast and spread jam over it quickly before taking a bite.

"So what are we doing today?" Harry asked, trying to elevate the mood of the room. Ginny was flipping through the Daily Prophet looking tense as she neared the obituaries and Hermione was staring at her spoon.

"I need new clothes, a few dresses and a pair of shorts." Ginny answered, shutting the paper before she reached the dreaded spot, she hated seeing names that belonged to people she knew. Every time she looked at that page she remembered what it had felt like to read Fred's name, along with all the others that died in the battle. Remus and Tonks were mentioned of course, along with many others and seeing the obituaries title always made her stomach drop. Perhaps with time that would change, but she wasn't hopeful.

"We just went shopping, less than a fortnight ago!" Harry replied, unaware of the pain Ginny felt as she saw a corner of the page she was avoiding, luckily she didn't recognise the name but someone must of, someone missed them. And it made her feel like she was going to vomit up her cereal.

"Yeah, and?" Ginny replied pushing the obituaries out of her head, she couldn't deal with that right now, she would deal with it later.

"I'll stay here and de-gnome." Harry said, looking out of the window as he spoke, it was going to be a scorcher today, the sun was already shining and there was not a cloud in sight. He was half expecting rain today, but that might come later.

"You do that. Hermione?" Ginny replied, kissing Harry softly before returning to her cereal and looking at Hermione who seem immersed in thought, her glazed eyes focussed on her spoon.

"I need some stuff too." Hermione muttered, her voice sounding distant at first but her tone had reached normality by the time she said 'too'.

"Like?" Ginny raised her eyebrow as she took another mouthful of cereal, whilst trying not to laugh as Hermione's ears turned scarlet and tried to keep her expression neutral.

"Makeup and clothes and stuff." Hermione muttered, not able to keep eye contact with Ginny as she spoke, fully aware that her ears were giving her away but pretending she didn't notice. It was none of Ginny's business, or Molly's for that matter what Ron and her got up to, or what she wanted them to be getting up to.

"Uh-huh." Ginny replied stifling a laugh by stuffing her mouth with the last of her cereal as Harry focussed on his toast, almost oblivious.

"So when are we going?" Hermione asked, pointedly ignoring Ginny's remark and her smirk.

**XX**


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